Australia Votes: Western Australia 2005

Legislative Council Summary

The last two Legislative Council elections have both produced historic
results. In 1996, the conservative side of politics lost control of the
chamber for the first time, winning only half of the seats in the
Council, 17 out of 34 positions. After appointing one of its number
President, the Coalition was then in a minority on the floor of the
Council, as the President only has a casting vote for use when a vote is
tied.

In 2001 the result was even more dramatic, with Labor's 13 seats
combining with 5 Green MLCs to give the left of politics control of the
Legislative Council for the first time in history. However, Labor and the
Greens have not always seen eye to eye on legislation. This was seen most
clearly in the attempt to introduce one-vote one-value electoral
boundaries for the Legislative Assembly. Failure to agree on changes to
the Council and on the voting rights of the Council President led to the
passage of the electoral amendments being judged unconstitutional for not
having had the required absolute majority. (For details on the electoral
amendments, see the election summary page.)

A key point to remember with the Legislative Council's electoral system
is that the final vacancy in each region, in some cases the final two,
will be decided by preferences. Unlike the lower house, where voters
determine their own preferences, in the upper houses, most voters
exercise the group ticket voting option, which means the preferences from
their vote will be distributed according to a ticket lodged by each party
with the Electoral Commission before the election. Deal making between
parties on these preferences is certain to be critical to the final
outcome of the election.

There are two major differences between the Legislative Councils
electoral system and that used for the Senate. The first is superficial.
The ballot paper is not split into 'above' and 'below the line' voting
options. In Western Australia, candidates and parties are grouped and
listed vertically down the ballot paper. The group ticket voting option
is in a box on the left of a thick vertical line, while boxes allowing
votes for candidates appear on the right. Ungrouped candidates appear at
the bottom of the ballot paper and unlike the Senate, have access to
their own group ticket voting square.

The second and major difference from Senate elections is that groups can
lodge only a single ticket of preferences. In the Senate, two or three
tickets can be lodged, allowing parties to split their preferences. In
Western Australia, parties like the Australian Democrats and One Nation
must direct preferences rather than split their vote between parties.

Another difference that comes into play between elections is that when a
MLC resigns, their place is filled by a countback of votes, as occurs in
the Tasmanian House of Assembly. Unlike the Senate, a vacancy is not
filled by appointment, but by examining the quota of votes achieved by a
candidate on election.

The majority achieved by Labor and the Greens in 2001 came about thanks
to an accident caused by the inability of parties to split their tickets.
In the Agricultural and Mining
and Pastoral Regions, One Nation lodged a ticket which put the Greens
ahead of the Liberal and National Parties, a symbolic gesture done to
express displeasure at the Coalition and which One Nation thought would
have no impact in regions where the Greens traditionally polled poorly.
Instead it had a critical impact, as One Nation achieved more than a
quota of votes in both regions, the One Nation preference tickets being
directly responsible for the Greens winning the final spot in both
regions instead of the Liberal Party. As a result, the Greens won five
seats instead of three. Without One Nation's preferences, Labor plus the
Greens would have had only 16 seats in the Council and One Nation would
have achieved the balance of power. Instead, One Nation's preferences
granted that power to the Greens and left One Nation relatively
powerless.

2001 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (Roll: 1,187,629)

Party

Votes

% Vote

Swing

Seats
Won

Seats
Change

Labor Party

397,846

37.94

+4.86

13

+1

Liberal Party

356,126

33.96

-0.01

12

-2

National Party

25,204

2.40

+1.86

1

-2

Liberal/National Parties

..

0.00

-11.97

..

..

Total Coalition

381,330

36.36

-10.10

13

-4

One Nation

103,571

9.88

+9.88

3

+3

Greens (WA)

83,883

8.00

+2.45

5

+2

Australian Democrats

38,968

3.72

-2.86

..

-2

Independents

16,930

1.61

-2.19

..

..

Christian Democrats

16,105

1.54

+0.86

..

..

Curtin Labor Alliance

8,985

0.86

+0.86

..

..

Seniors Party

954

0.09

+0.09

..

..

Others

180

0.02

-3.83

..

..

Formal

1,048,752

97.36

+0.37

34

Informal

28,434

2.64

-0.37

Total Votes

1,077,186

90.70

+0.56

Note: The Liberal and National Parties stood joint
tickets in two regions in 1996, but not in 2001.

The West Australian Legislative Council is currently the only Australian
upper house where the entire chamber faces the people at each election,
though the Victorian Legislative Council will operate in this way from
the next state election in November 2006. Some details of interstate
arrangements are set out in the table below.

Interstate Upper Houses

Senate (76)

72 State Senators, 12 from each state, elected for fixed six year
terms. For each state, Senators are divided into two groups of six
that retire at alternate elections. The four Territory Senators
have a different arrangement, their terms tied to a single term of the House of Representatives, meaning they face the people
whenever the House has an election. A half-Senate election cannot
be held until a year before Senators' terms expire, and it is the
limitation on the terms of Senators that often prevents early House
elections being called until the last year of the Senate term. All
Senators face the the electorate at double dissolutions, with terms
and rotation of Senators altered as a result.

NSW (42)

Legislative Councillors serve two terms of the lower house,
normally eight years. 21 are elected at each election using
statewide proportional representation.

Victoria (44)

Currently the Victorian Legislative Council consists of 22
provinces, each province composed of four lower house districts.
Each province elects two MLC's, elected at alternate elections, so
22 face the polls at each lower house election. However, this
system will be abolished at the next Victorian election in November
2006. In future, the Council will consist of 40 seats, all 40
elected at each election. The state will be divided into 8
provinces consisting of 11 lower house seats, each province
electing 5 MLCs.

South Australia (22)

Legislative Councillors serve two terms of the lower house,
normally eight years. 11 are elected at each election using
statewide proportional representation.

Tasmania (15)

Legislative Councillors are elected by preferential voting in
single member electorates. Terms are fixed for six years, and
elections are held each May, but only part of the state is ever
involved as only two or three electorates go to the people each
year.

In line with most ex-British colonies, the W.A. Legislative Council was
originally set up as an advisory body to the appointed governor, becoming
the upper chamber of Parliament when self government was achieved in
1890. It initially remained an appointed body, becoming an elected
chamber from 1893. Until 1962, the state was divided into provinces, each
province electing three MLCs for terms of six years, one member from each
province facing the electorate every two years. This resulted in most
Council elections being conducted at a different time from lower house
elections, something that was never popular with governments.

The Council was refomed in 1963 and 1964, so that there would in future
be two members elected from each province for six year terms, one
retiring every three years meaning elections could be held jointly with
the Legislative Assembly. The franchise for the Council was also brought
into line with the Assembly, as up until 1962, Council elections had been
restricted to owners of property, or lessees of property above a certain
value. While the enrolment was extended, the system that gave lower
enrolment quotas to rural provinces remained.

In 1989, the two-member provinces were abandoned in favour of the current
system. As explained in notes on WA's
Peculiar Electoral System, the reforms created six regions, and
passage of the legislation required an agreement between the Labor and
National Parties, which gave some advantage to both parties. Retiring the
whole chamber at each election was part of the arrangement of quotas and
regions that ensured the National Party continued to receive
representation. The same series of changes also cut the terms of
Legislative Councillors from 6 to 4 years, also extending the term of the
Legislative Assembly from three to four years.

It is important to note that the West Australian Legislative Council has
a fixed term, and the newly elected Legislative Council will not take its
position until 22 May. The current Council will stay in place until 21
May. This was important in 1996, as the government used the gap between
the election in December and May 21 to pass important industrial
relations legislation before it lost control. There are various rumours
that if the Gallop government is re-elected in February, it may try to
use the period between the election and May to again pass its one-vote
one-value electoral legislation, perhaps with the support of MLCs
defeated at the state election.

Note that under the Gallop government's original parliamentary reform
package, the fixed term legislation would have brought forward the term
of the Legislative Council so that both chambers took their seats at the
same time. When the opposition backed down on agreement to support the
public funding of elections, the government chose not to proceed with the
bill bringing in fixed terms.